Her Protector in ER by Melanie Milburne

Author:Melanie Milburne
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2013-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

KEIVA was just finishing some notes on her first patient of the day when Anne McFie put her head around the door.

‘Can I talk to you for a second?’ she asked.

‘Sure.’ She closed the folder and pushed it to one side. ‘What’s up?’

Anne took the seat opposite, her expression troubled. ‘Jane told me Mr Holt’s body has been transferred to Sydney for an autopsy.’

‘Yes. I knew Detective Darcy was going ahead with it.’

‘But aren’t you worried?’ Anne leant forward in her seat, her voice almost a conspiratorial whisper. ‘What if…you know…they find something?’

Keiva took in a deep breath and did her best to smile reassuringly at the ward clerk. ‘What they’ll find is that a sweet old man died of a heart attack.’

‘But people are saying…’ Anne’s hand went to her throat in a nervous gesture and her voice lowered even further. ‘He could have been poisoned.’

‘Come on, Anne,’ Keiva said. ‘Don’t let your imagination get the better of you, like everyone else in town. What possible motive would anyone have for poisoning Mr Holt, or indeed any of the other cases under review?’

‘But if it’s true, the killer is still out there.’ Anne pointed towards the door of Keiva’s office, indicating the community outside. ‘He or she is out there amongst us and waiting to strike again. It said so in this morning’s paper.’

Keiva hadn’t as yet seen the Karracullen Standard but she could just imagine the hornet’s nest Ted Hurst had stirred up. It wouldn’t be long before the Sydney press got wind of it and then the red dust of the outback would really hit the fan.

‘What else did the article say?’

‘There’s a copy in the doctors’ room,’ Anne said. ‘Do you want me to go up and get it for you?’

Keiva got to her feet. ‘No, don’t bother. I’ll go and have a quick look myself. Tell John to page me if anything comes in.’

She left A and E and made her way to the doctors’ room, her anger steadily building at the way things were being handled. Gossip was just like a rampant disease, she thought. Once it began to spread there was no stopping it and no amount of damage control could fix things. How would she ever get another job in the city with this dark shadow hanging over her? She could hear the interview panel now: ‘Ah, yes, Dr Truscott, weren’t you working at Karracullen Base Hospital where all those people were being killed off by some mad doctor?’ How would she live the stigma down? It didn’t matter how innocent she was, she knew people would still indulge themselves with an array of theories about what had gone on.

The paper was on the table, a photo of the hospital on the front with the headlines: MURDER OR MISMANAGEMENT? READ THE FULL STORY WITH AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW ON PAGE THREE.

She turned the page and quickly scanned page three for anything libelous, but it was the usual Ted Hurst-style speculation and scaremongering, fortunately this time without naming any professionals.

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